Preheat oven: 350F
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
Pack firmly into loaf pan greased with extra virgin olive oil.
Bake for about 1.5 hours.
Cool & slice.
This meatloaf freezes very well in convenient, single-slice portions

this sounds yummy and I think can be adapted for dogs, too…

Pumpkin Whoopie pie

This Wicked Pumpkin Whoopie Pies recipe is adapted from the recipe printed on the 207 Show’s web site on WCSH6.com (the NBC TV affiliate in Portland, Maine). I have not changed the substance of the recipe, but I have revised the wording a bit for clarity and added some of my own helpful tips and notes in italics.

I have broken out this recipe into two parts — the pumpkin whoopie pie shells recipeand the cream cheese whoopie pie filling recipe — to make it easier to follow since the cake shells and filling are made separately and then sandwiched together.

Ingredients

1 15 oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed)

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

3 cups all-purpose flour (heaping)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C). Grease a large cookie sheet or line it with parchment paperand set it aside.

I always have needed two or more cookie sheets for mine, but it depends on the size of the scoops you use (which also determines the number of whoopie pies this recipe will make).2. Beat pumpkin, eggs, oil, and brown sugar together until fluffy with an electric mixer. Stir in the molasses.

A handheld mixer is fine.3. Combine the dry ingredients together and mix them into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. The batter will be thick (it should hold its shape when placed on the cookie sheet).

Make sure you measure 3 heaping cups of flour (approximately 3 1/2 level cups) and 2firmly packed cups of brown sugar so you get the correct amounts of each in the batter.

Also, feel free to use different spices if you prefer. For example, if you don’t care for ginger, you could substitute a smaller quantity of nutmeg.4. Scoop large, rounded spoonfuls of the cake batter onto the prepared cookie sheet(s), spacing them at least 2 inches apart.

Feel free to make your whoopie pie shells larger or smaller by changing the size of the mounds of batter. Remember to adjust the baking time accordingly and keep a close eye on the cakes so you don’t under- or over-bake them.

Both Amy and I recommend using an ice cream scoop to remove the same amount of cake batter for each whoopie pie shell and to form the batter into neat, uniform mounds. Using the ice cream scoop to portion and shape the batter helps you make cake shells that are uniformly sized with round edges that are easy to match up in pairs, rather than the unevenly sized shells with wonky edges that often form when anything other than a scoop is used.5. Bake the whoopie pie shells for 10-13 minutes (depending on the size scoop or spoon you used to portion the batter).

6. Cool the whoopie pie shells on a large wire cooling rack while you make the cream cheese filling with marshmallow creme / fluff (see recipe below).

7. When the whoopie pie shells have cooled, turn over half of them (flat side facing up) and place a scoop of cream cheese filling in the center of each cake shell. Top with the remaining cake shells.

Use the same ice cream scoop you used to portion out the cake batter to top half the cake shells with a mound of the cream cheese filling.

Ingredients

6 oz. cream cheese

1/2 stick (1/4 c.) unsalted butter (softened)

2 cups confectioners sugar

3 heaping tablespoons marshmallow creme (such as Marshallow Fluff)

2 teaspoons water

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Note: 3 heaping tablespoons of marshmallow creme is equal to approximately 4 level tablespoons of fluff.2. Sandwich pairs of cooled pumpkin whoopie pie shells together with scoops of this cream cheese filing.

* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don’t use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium for about a minute or until the dough looks like a bunch of little dough balls. If you pinch a piece and it crumbles, add a little water. If it’s really sticky, it’s too wet and you’ll need to add a little flour. Gather the dough together and form into a ball. Place on a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to about 1/4-inch thickness. You can either use a cookie cutter to cut out cute shapes or use a knife to cut squares or strips. I am pretty sure the dog doesn’t care, but I rather prefer the cute shapes. I gather the scraps together and roll them out again and again until I’ve used up the dough. Place the cookies on a baking sheet. They can be crowded pretty close together since they don’t expand much. Bake 15-20 minutes for softer treats or 30 minutes for hard treats (Kaweah likes crunchy treats, just like her person – me). Let cool completely. Makes 100+ 1-inch heart-shaped dog treats.

5 responses to “Pumpkin is good for dogs”

this is rather timely, only not for my dog but for my cat. My cat has rather constant allergies. He just began another flareup today (hot spots). He gets put on Prednisone when he is having a flare up and last year experienced a rather bad bowel blockage due to it.
Now, whenever he begins a round of Prednisone I give him a teaspoon of pumpkin in his food EVERY DAY (once a day) and so far, so good…it keeps everything “moving”

My friend’s vet gave the “2 tsp of pumpkin” advice for digestion, so I’ve been doing it over the past few weeks. My dog likes it and I can tell (from his stool – gross, yes) that it helps him. I’ll have to try your recipes!

NewsHound and Dog Travel Expert

Welcome! I'm CeliaSue, a creative California-based freelance writer who wants to help you travel with your pets and enjoy the ride. I provide reliable travel info for California, and the Southwest USA (occasionally the rest of the country), plus lifestyle inspiration about being a doggie mama on the road with a spoiled yet friendly polka dot princess named Cici. I also write about romance, eco friendly, spiritual, healthy and luxury travel for various publications.

prmatchmaker at yahoo.com

Campers for Seniors

want more polka dots ? Subscribe

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and and get FREE list of pet friendly wineries in California, DOUBLE DOG DARE YA & new posts by email.

Join 298 other followers

CeliaSue Hecht is a third-generation American, originally from New York. She has lived much of her adult life in California and Nevada and is a doggie mama and chocoholic plus a proponent of tiny homes and alternative energy and medicine. In the 70’s and 90’s, she taught personal growth workshops and seminars in Los Angeles and Munich, Germany. In the late 1980’s, she traveled around the world for three years with an international, interfaith, interdenominational, intercessory prayer ministry (Bangladesh, Canada, England, France, Germany, Holland, India, Israel, Singapore, Thailand). She has worked with people with AIDS, fibromyalgia, cancer, people without homes, Holocaust survivors, as well as written about diverse topics such as women’s topics, activism against the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada, alternative health and therapies and travel pieces in numerous magazines and newspapers. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin. Co-author of five romantic travel guides. Go to Paypal and buy CeliaSue a romantic comedy to read on the beach while munching on a chocolate bar.

Dogs do not care if you are rich or poor, fat or thin, fashionable or wear holy jeans. they like you, wag their tails at you and lick you if you let them. Dogs just want to have fun, love … Continue reading →

my Cici can be pretty picky about her cookies. especially healthy ones. a month or so ago, we were at a fair nearby Whole Foods and a local gal had a table. She baked her own dog biscuits and was … Continue reading →

I once had a crazy dog. He was male and our neighbor’s dog was his best buddy pal. On Friday nights usually we would visit and drink wine, the women, and the doggies would play together. Often, the two male dogs would … Continue reading →

500 women over the age of 50 on the monterey bay peninsula are experiencing what I have as well as people across the country have been writing to me telling me their stories. Cici and I are overwhelmed with gratitude for … Continue reading →

California has now made it legal for people to break car windows in order to break a dog out of a hot car. “As of August 2016, Vermont joined forces with Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio in passing laws … Continue reading →